Academic Programs

Professional Associations

As an institution dedicated to promoting music in its community, the School of Music
and Dance has proudly allied itself with a number of reputable associations, many
of which have made their resources available to students.

Established in 1985, the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies is the only
institution in North America solely devoted to the life and works of Ludwig van Beethoven
and hosts the largest collection of Beethoven's works in the western hemisphere. Located
in room 580 in the Martin Luther King Jr. Library.

Music professors Dale Wolford and Aaron Lington are half of the Premiere Saxophone
Quartet, a professional ensemble dedicated to promoting new quartet music via recordings
and regular performances at SJSU and throughout the area.

The "Pride of the Spartans," the Spartan Marching Band can be seen at halftime at
all home football games and the occasional bowl game. Director Scott Pierson leads
the band through four to five different field shows each year. In the spring, the
Pep Band leads Spartan basketball fans in school spirit.

Before his death in 2003, Lou Harrison was considered by many to be America's greatest
living composer. He was the last living link to a tradition of American experimental
music that reach back to Charles Ives and included such influential figures as Henry
Cowell, Harry Partch, and John Cage.

Kappa Kappa Psi is a fraternal organization operating for the advancement of college
and university bands through service and support. It is a student service and leadership
recognition society whose chief aim is to assist in developing a wholesome experience
for the band. The nature of membership is based on honor for the band, the school,
its sponsoring institutions, and on furthering the cause of band music in the nation's
colleges and universities.

ACDA's central purpose is "to promote excellence in choral music through performance,
composition, publication, research, and teaching." The Student Chapter works to support
the choral programs in the community.

An ensemble part of the Music Education degree program, MEWE provides excellent opportunities
for music education majors to develop a secondary instrument and become more involved
in the education process.